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Institutional Discrimination, Individual Racism, and Hurricane Katrina
Author(s) -
Henkel Kristin E.,
Dovidio John F.,
Gaertner Samuel L.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2006.00106.x
Subject(s) - hurricane katrina , racism , landfall , government (linguistics) , criminology , institutional racism , race (biology) , political science , sociology , law , gender studies , geography , natural disaster , storm , philosophy , meteorology , linguistics
Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, there have been accusations of blatant racism in the government's response, on the one hand, and adamant denials that race played any role at all, on the other. We propose that both perspectives reflect oversimplifications of the processes involved, and the resulting debate may obscure a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the situation. Specifically, we discuss the potential roles of institutional discrimination, subtle contemporary biases, and racial mistrust. The operation of these processes is illustrated with events associated with Hurricane Katrina. In addition, drawing on these principles, we offer suggestions for present and future recovery efforts.